The Dunning-Kruger Effect 

I have found this to be true in my life. I am an artist and never felt that I was as good as my peers. However, after 3 heart attacks and loosing my home and family. I almost died. I gave up caring for my ego. Now,I know that I am as good or better than most. It was a tough ride. Yet, I still exist.

This explains American Idol contestants.

This is the smartest, best paper I have ever seen. Which means, I have overestimated my competence and this paper is far below average, as judged by me. However, knowing that I have overestimated my competence, now places me among the high performers, but if I have judged myself to be among the high performers…? My wife uses this same kind of logic. I will ask her to explain it to me.

I've always wondered if people with flawed thinking had the capacity to be aware that their thinking may be flawed & I didn't know there was a name for this theory until now.

"Dumb people are blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are" -Patrick Star

*"The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think.* *The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is. He confuses it with feeling."* _- Thomas Sowell_

I just love how systematic and simple your presentations are. You are very good at explaining.

I kinda worked this out on my own in my head without ever having heard of this theory. I kind of discovered it on my own from just being observant, so many people are like this.

I once said that I don't know anything and a girl told me I was wrong. Still haven't gotten over that.

This is the smartest explanation for Dunning Kruger Effect I have ever seen while searching about it. 1000 thumb for you.

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." ~Confucius

“If our brains were simple enough for us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't.” [Ian Stewart - 'The Collapse of Chaos"]

When you talked about the Double Curse I thought it would be that the incompetent people overestimated their competence BUT ALSO that the competent people underestimated their competence. The underestimation is also a curse because it causes people to avoid engaging in activities they might actually be good at, like in the example you gave later in the video about female subjects and science. Overall it was a great video. Learned a lot, thx.

To succeed in life, you need two things, the ignorance and confidence! - Marc Twain.

The media's biased opinion polls of Hillary Clinton was an excellent example of this effect.

"I'm too humble to know that I'm humble. And that's the reason why I felt the need to tell you so. Because of my overwhelming humility." (That's the motto of a person who suffers from DKE).

thanks for the presentation, sir!

Drats - I like to give quality presentations and LOVED the font. Nice Job!

"You know nothing! John Snow."

Most everything I have heard and read about Dunning's and Kruger's work is heavily focused on the lower end participants. I recently stumbled upon a "form the horse's mouth" presentation by Dunning. He addressed another aspect of the higher end performers . In a survey of University professors, 92% ranked themselves as above average to their peers. He also touched on the tendency of highly educated and accomplished people to opine as experts on subjects unrelated to their field, in which they are actually ignorant. Hubris is universal.

this data is completely dependent on the integrity of the test itself

Now I know why I got less and less cocky through my career.

Very well explained. Thanks for the great video.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm an incompetent idiot.

Thanks, this makes the effect clearer.

I do research on everything I am interested in. I am constantly amazed by passionate opinions from people who obviously don't have the first clue about their subject. It's depressing as hell.

I tend to judge myself by how others judge me, & by how well I can understand them. When I can listen to a professor giving a lecture & I have a high level of comprehension, I know I'm gaining competence in a subject. When I can actually hold a conversation with experts & intellectuals I know I'm gaining competence. Especially when I ask good questions & I can understand the answers. I judge myself by the quality of questions I ask, & I know enough about enough to be unafraid to admit my ignorance about most things. So where do I fit on the curve? I don't know :-)

Great video. Always good to have more information to reduce our Dunning-Kruger error. I think that some of this effect is culturally driven. We have a culture that says that we must have an opinion on every subject, regardless of the amount of knowledge we have on that particular subject. A more humble approach may be more sensible in my opinion. To be be able to say "i don't know' or 'I don't know enough to really comment on that' is often the honest answer people should give, however this is generally seen as a sign of weakness and/or a lack of courage to take a side/stance...

Hey I love your video. BTW what font did you use in this one?

At 15:37 you mention that acquiring skills can help reduce the effect. Is there a study that has tested this that you know of? I've read a few places that learning any skill thoroughly can reduce the effect in other unrelated subjects, but I can't find any primary sources on the hypothesis.

Great video, nice and informative

I think this effect could not only be viewed as caused by internal, personal psychological mechanisms, but it could be viewed as also being caused by the differences in various individuals' affect display. So not only do different people have various neurological predispositions, but the backgrounds from which they come temper them in ways as to apply different assessments of internal self awareness and external analyses. Also, if an individual is prone to splitting, then when they're faced with a situation that requires rational there can be a large divergence in behaviors and social actions compared to an individual who is not prone to psychological splitting (who does not meddle in a collective stupor).

This makes so much sense. I grew up with a couple close friends that were not very bright in quite a few areas yet they thought of themselves as way above average. Deep down I would wonder if they really thought that though. For example if there was a big financial reward for rating performance more accurately, would some of the poor performers still rate their performance far above what it actually was.

New Planet School. Thanks for the video. I am curious to know what software you are using to record this video which allows you to "write" and annotate as you do your commentary. Thanks for your reply.

Amusing and informative. Basic concept familiar of course, but research quite interesting. Should be required in all curricula. In every grade, repeatedly. Then broadcast on a regular basis, like tests of the emergency broadcast system, lol. And some great discussion too.

As a mechanic shop owner I have kids fresh out of mechanics school wanting “A” mechanics wages and couldn’t even identify “C” mechanic auto parts, I even set up a table in my shop load with “C” mechanic parts, easily identified, shock, brake shoes, radiator cap, and would ask them to grab me something off the table when they came in wanting a “A” job and I will hire them if they bring me the part I asked for and they would walk to the table and stand and look at the parts for awhile and then would end up walking out the door with their head down

I've been noticing this all my life.Then a few years ago these observations were given a name. Now, I'm experiencing a Baader-Meinhof phenomenon with the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

One of the consequences of this effect is that senior executives on global corporations don't come from the brightest and most capable people. Like Mark Twain said they have 'ignorance and confidence'. Relative dullards get to be the most powerful people in the world.

40 Dislikes from incompetent people show the effect pretty well, if you are competent enough to see that.

Thank you very much for the video! :-) I don't think the comment bellow do you justice. I think you did a very good job It's true, for people whom their English is not their born language, this video is at the right speed for us, so thank you and keep up your great work! :-)

Kanye West?

A mistaken extrapolation some might make from this is that confidence is somehow correlated to incompetence! That is, if I am confident I did well I am probably wrong. Research has shown that people who are successful regularly blame outside forces for their periodic failure. Whereas pessimists believe that all failures are Personal, Pervasive, and Permanent. Confidence is NOT the problem. Confidence in your true competence is. It's all about Mindset - which is an important book to read.

The more you learn the more you understand how little you know.

Awesome Video Dude :)

Suddenly everyone is an expert on Dunning-Kruger effect. And thus demonstrating the effect. The meta-Dunning-Kruger Effect?

Thank you for the video. I wonder if the Dunning-Kruger Effect of a person varies on what they are working on. For example, I might be bad at sports and think I am great and on the other hand, be an amazing artist and think I am bad at it.

isn't it painfully ironic that people are complaining that this video is explains the subject in too stupidly of a manner?

Maybe it is those that have doubt, strive to learn and gain skill, while those that think they have it all figured out, stop learning. As in anyone who says, "the science is settled."

A.k.a Flat-earthers

I use this video in my business to screen potential partners. I don’t partner with people who disagree with this video.

Everybody on social media throwing around the term 'dunning-Kruger effect' like it isn't a thing they just heard about 5 minutes ago

Icejjfish perfectly explained

Nice Video New Planet School. I liked your pace and simple explanatory style. Sometimes people like myself who believe they have it all figured out will toss explanatory media if it is too convoluted with field lingo and overly exaggerated hyperbole implemented just to explain such lingo. JK. I googled everything I just typed because I wasn't confident it actually made sense.

So if I were to be wise, I should think I am a fool. But as the fool that I were to think I am, I should think I am wise.

"I am a good driver" Hahahahahahahaha

So, if now I, whove always had double check for perfection things I loves to do and if quite doing better than before at, and have believed yes I'm yet a fool and needy I put on more efforts to beat my previous ones, see this video and come to conclusion that.oh! I wasn't all a lesser confident one but thinking wiser and more positively , will accepting this make me not fool abt my abilities to evaluate myself ? Just a messed up thought and question...

Great presentation and very interesting analysis , I am just only a bit confused when the author of the video mentions that was Plato who said " I know nothing except .......ignorance " I was sure it was Socrates ..maybe this idea can be clarified

Awesome vid! I always went for a pass in HS and laughed at the people I knew were smart when they said...I think I failed....this is a real effect! ;) I never wanted to stress out just pass...I could have done better if I cared about being stressed out!

when i think everyone is smarter than me and knows more than me is it because of the dunning-kruger effect? or am i an idiot because i feel like i should know more than i know now at my age and feel stupid even tho i have higher education than my friends i still feel like they are smarter than me. i'm not sure if they come up with something or they know little about it and guess the rest but if i where to be asked something i would say i don't know even if i know a little bit of it or i would end up saying i think it's like that and when i play Soccer People say i'm good but i don't feel that i'm

...darn thing, Margaret, I think we lost'em. 'tll be fine, 'tll be fine...

when one is delusional he is not aware that he is delusional

1:28 That was Socrates, mate. Not Plato. If I recall correctly.

Best example for D-K-effect: Donald Trump.

" The worm that will destroy you is the temptation to agree with your critics … to seek their approval. " ----- Thomas Harris

i agree that this could have been better presented. that said, the information contained was valuable. so i will give it a like. thankyou nps. keep it up.

Does humility factor in?

"All are clear, I alone am clouded" I'm not sure, but I once read that was a quote from Lao Tzu. But whoever did say it, I am an admirer of their humility. In this day and age of "alternative facts", (I can attribute this quote to Kelly Anne Conway), we obviously need more education! But then again, many DKE sufferers claim that education is really indoctrination. I don't know if this belief is because they think they are superior or because they're afraid to find out how wrong they may be. It would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous

"My biggest flaw is that I'm too nice" mindset

Professor Dave got me here

I try to avoid evoking charges of The Dunning - Kruger Effect for fear of it applying to me . What is it of which I am unaware ?

Could it be true that the creative spirit in anyone not be dependent on their skill? What a awesome research!

It is my experience that too many of those who are poor performers (and probably don't realise it) are often promoted above those who are performing well. Is this because they have connections at director level or is it because management are frightened to fire them or demote them into areas where they can do little damage? I definitely fall into the category of those who overestimate the abilities of others: i.e. it took me years to work out that the bulk of the population don't quickly grasp essentials. On the other hand I readily admit poor knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry etc. I think this is mainly because they don't interest me, but maybe not. We all have our grey areas, but unfortunately not everybody recognises even that.

Damn it now, am I stupid or what?! I'll just wait here...

I noted there is an interisting twist on the Dunning Kruger effect. its understood by all this effect is people are too dumb to know they are. That is an intelligent person may not understand a concept made by another inteligent person but conceeds to that person's expert opinion or at least reserves judgment till they get a second opinion or does their own reaserch. But some are dumb they think ..." i can not understand you therefore you must be stupid" but not me.

I am glad someone pronounces that name correctly. My last name is Duning, like a sand dune. However, a lot of people at my school pronounce it like Dunning when they see it for the first time. @-@ It sucks.

great vid

How do we know what we don't know... how will we know if we are competent or not if we don't know if we are competent or not? How can you even test that...

I think I have experienced the Dunning-Kruger effect when learning new languages. Assumed I was better than I actually was. On the other hand I have considered myself a very poor at organizing things, perhaps I am a little better than I thought.

Great video.......I think lol. Subscribed.

"Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him!" Proverbs 26:12

Strange how we may think we ourselves as approaching genius. Certainly enough to make a video like this one and, on information others have discovered. Is there a difference between those who think they are teachers and those who are in fact educators? I may not be who I think I am but I dont think I could put something like this together. In this video we see the workings of Dunning-Kruger Effect and those who think they understand it best. Not however better .. .. ..

I wonder if this effect is different in various occupations? Do the police overestimate their performance more than teachers do for example?

"A little learning is a dangerous thing" Alexander Pope. At least that is what I think I remembe. But what do I know?

the civ IV intro tho...

Narcissists must be the biggest perpetrators of this effect. I agree with Mark Twain the most, if you exude confidence but are actually ignorant then you are likely to be successful at least to a certain degree as all the other ignorant people will agree with your estimation as confidence rather than knowledge is all they deal with and many of the actual knowledgeable people will defer to your confidence as they may be suffering from imposter syndrome. The only hope is for confident knowledgeable people to fight this but they by definition are few and far between.

I feel much better admitting im just shit at many things. Honesty and humility is the counter balance to ego and ignorace.

6:00 getting to the point!!

Although this video is only 18 mins long. It still took me 2 hours to watch.... Fell a sleep 8 times :D Was a bit tired i guess :D

14:56...I heard that you can improve your IQ test results by practicing for it. however you say that it is mainly genetic. Can you go into a bit more detail concerning this issue?

This may be a bit awkward but I was told, rather sardonically, to look up the Dunning-Kruger effect. I was simply pointing out the disparaging and pejorative behavior exhibitted by some people with high I.Q. Therefore not taking a jab at their intelligence, but rather how they compartmentalize themselves from the rest of the world. Simply put, the people I was addressing, mind you it was on a RU-vid comments section, were boasting about their I.Q. on a Jordan Peterson video about correlations between I.Q and industriousness. Everyone ignored me, except for one person, but the person was under the false impression that I was speaking from a position of superiority, he thought I wanted, or at least was trying to outsmart him, and failed to actually read my points critically and kept using tu quoques as responses. It became almost a competition for him, it seemed I plucked a nerve and made the mistake of challenging their self-indulgent mental masturbation, which was highly intellectually vacant when I look back. I was simply dismissed and brushed off by someone who has taken an I.Q. test and used it to justify his social shortcomings, because he was simply an undiscovered genius, at least that was his behavior. In contrast of actual scientists and intellectuals, these people were extremely arrogant and I'm sure they haven't made any meaningful contributions to their field of choice or society in general. According to them and their sources, this way of thinking is a major misunderstanding of those possessing high I.Q. and therefore invalid, it's not an insight into them but an insight into the person criticizing them, meaning the one offering criticism is actually the stupid one. So in light of all this, I'm aghast, confused and worried that I am actually guilty of being under this particular effect and I've been thinking about it all day, I always like to analyze myself and challenge my own perspective even if it hurts, so my mind hasn't been idle since then. Any thoughts on this?

Lake Woebeggone: All of our children are above average! Most drivers believe they are above average. (That's a statistical fact--but I'm too lazy to look up the reference because I'm a busy genius with more vids to watch!)

as long as you know that you don't know enough, you should be fine.

did the women give themselves a lower self assesment due to men in the test group (as implied by the narrator imo) or did they give a lower self assesement because they felt they did poorly?

There is also the belief amongst people who do knowledge based office jobs or professions that trade jobs are really simple. They think skills like carpentry, plumbing etc, are something they can Do Themselves and the tradesmen are consequently overpaid.

Aww... I feel stupid...

Teacher admonishing student: "You are ignorant and indifferent" Student reply: "I don't know and I don't care"

One positive thing that can be said about victims to this phenomenon is that they tend to find themselves with good jobs and no accountability in government.

at around 13:30 : correlation =/= causation Maybe women generally feel less confident about their skills and give up quicker. Wouldn't that make men "better" scientists?

Thank you for this. I am ashamed to admit that I tend to do this a lot x(

because the ego doesn't realise it's limits - until we die ;)